Josh Cable has 17 years of experience as a writer and editor for newspapers, B2B publications and marketing organizations. His areas of expertise include U.S. manufacturing, lean/Six Sigma and workplace safety and health.

Mike Anderson’s “Who Pays for What?” surveys provide a snapshot of how often collision repairers are getting paid for “not-included” operations. But the results also can give collision repairers leverage to tell insurers and consumers that their shops aren’t the only ones performing and charging for these operations.

During his presentation at the 2017 Northeast Automotive Services Show in Secaucus, N.J., Anderson discussed the results of the “Who Pays for What?” surveys from 2016. Here are some of the results that he highlighted from three of the surveys.

Refinish-Related Operations Survey

Color tint

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 54 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “The estimating system as well as I-CAR and every paint manufacturer say, ‘Tint to achieve a blendable match.’”

Labor for second color setup

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 42 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “Audatex is the only one that has a formula for this, and it’s four-tenths. CCC and Mitchell do not have a formula.”

Match OEM texture (chip/gravel/stone guard)

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 40 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “When you get paid four-tenths to gravel-guard a fender or rocker, that does not include additional labor for your technician to match the OE texture. That’s a not-included operation. This actually went up from the previous year when we surveyed, because we think we made people aware of it.”

Fuel surcharge for spraybooth

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 1 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “I can tell you this was 3 percent last year, and it dropped to 1 percent this year. If you are a DRP, this will absolutely get you kicked off the list if you charge for it. Charge for this if you want to lose a DRP.”

Refinish materials charges

Most shops (81 percent of them) are using the multiplier method (dollars per refinish hour) to bill for refinish materials rather than a materials invoicing system.

Interestingly, with most insurers, over 60 percent of the shops say they’re paid “always” or “most of the time” when they submit a materials invoice.

Anderson: “Here’s what we’re seeing: People have a hard time overcoming paint caps or thresholds, so they’re starting to look at paint material minimums.”

Body Labor Operations Survey

Clean up old urethane

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 31 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “When you get paid to R&I a glass – like 2.4 for a windshield or rear vision – that does not include the labor to self-level and clean the old glass. That’s additional labor.”

Labor to gain collision access

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 50 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “Let’s say I’m working on a door and the door gets replaced and I can’t get the door open. Do you ever have to cut a hole in a door to get in there and trip the striker? Do you ever have to cut a hole in the hood to let the striker release from the core support? That’s a not-included operation. That’s called labor to gain collision access.”

Duplicate OEM texture of seam-sealer

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 34 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “When you seam-seal something, the additional labor to have that splattered look – that’s a non-included operation.”

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 57 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “I remove a door handle off a damaged door. I remove a door handle off the used door. I then take the door handle [from] the original door because it’s coded to my key, and I put it on the used door. That’s two removes and one install. Do I get an amen?”

Apply seam-sealer on welded-on panels

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 53 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “Keep in mind that every Toyota/Lexus door, hood and deck lid does not come seam-sealed from the factory and you have to seam-seal it. If you’re using Mitchell, that labor is included, but the material is not. But [with] CCC and Audatex, that labor is not included and you better be charging for that on every Toyota/Lexus.”

Frame & Mechanical Operations Survey

Structural diagnostic labor

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 58 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “Those days of ‘setup and measure, two hours’ are going by the wayside. People are starting to charge on their estimates, ‘pre-measure vehicle to diagnose damage,’ that’s a line item; ‘monitor measurements during the repair process,’ that’s a line item; and ‘final verification of measurements.’ We’re starting to see that on more and more estimates.”

Perform health scan of vehicle control modules

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 41 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “This was before any of the OEMs released their position statements, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how this goes up [in the next survey]. I think we’re going to see that jump up quite a bit.”

Stall cure time

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 8 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “When I was a BMW factory-trained shop, BMW said that when you use their rivets and adhesives, you had to let the adhesives set up for 36 to 48 hours. At my shop, we used to charge [for] stall cure time and we got paid $600 to $800 a day for stall cure time.”

Drain, store and refill fuel tank

Of the shops that negotiate for this, 73 percent are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson: “Why is that not included? Because they don’t know whether there’s one gallon of gas or 20 gallons of gas in there. That’s why there’s no labor time, and that’s why you need to charge for that.”